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Jean McConville's remains in Antrim

Updated / Thursday, 30 Oct 2003 16:35

The remains of Jean McConville have arrived at her son Michael's house at Crumlin in Co Antrim, 15 miles from Belfast, where her funeral will be held on Saturday.

From Dublin they had been driven to Co Louth where the cortege stopped for a minute's silence at a crossroads near Carlingford, about two miles from Shelling Hill beach where her remains had been discovered by a passer-by in August.

Her daughter Helen McKendry spent a short time there but did not travel with the rest of the cortege as it made its way northwards.

A Garda car escorted the hearse until it reached the border near Newry.

Mrs McKendry, who has been in dispute with the other family members about the funeral arrangements, has yet to decide whether or not she will attend the Mass in West Belfast and the subsequent burial in Lisburn.

Earlier, the McConville family received their mother's remains in Dublin when they were released by the Coroner's Office.

The 37-year-old mother of ten from West Belfast was shot in 1972 after IRA gunmen seized her at the front door of her home in the Divis flats area of West Belfast.

She will be buried on Saturday in Lisburn in her husband's grave, following a mass in Belfast. The cortege may stop briefly as a mark of respect in the Divis area on its way to the cemetery.

Helen McKendry, has claimed she had been isolated by her eight surviving brothers and sisters.

Ms McKendry said her siblings and what she called more sinister elements had combined to exclude her.

Monsignor Denis Faul said the funeral should be a healing time and a time of prayer, and he hoped the family would resolve their differences.

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